A.G. Barr p.l.c, commonly known as Barr's, is a Scottish

soft drink A soft drink (see #Terminology, § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) Carbonated water, carbonated, and typically including added Sweetness, sweetener. Flavors used to be Natural flav ...

and

energy drink An energy drink is a type of non-alcoholic psychoactive functional beverage containing stimulant compounds, usually caffeine (at a higher concentration than ordinary soda pop) and taurine, which is marketed as reducing tiredness and improving pe ...

manufacturer based in

Cumbernauld Cumbernauld (; ) is a large town in the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, most-populous locality in Scotl ...

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

, Scotland widely known for manufacturing the drink

Irn-Bru Irn-Bru ( "iron brew", ) is a Scottish carbonated soft drink, often described as "Scotland's other national drink" after Scotch whisky. Introduced in 1901, the drink is produced in Westfield, Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, by A.G. Barr of ...

. It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

(LSE) and is a constituent of the

FTSE 250 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 250 Index, also called the FTSE 250 Index, FTSE 250, or, informally, the "Footsie 250" , is a stock market index that consists of the 101st to the 350th mid-cap blue chip companies listed on the London Stock ...

History

The company was founded in 1875 by Robert Barr in

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

. In 1887, his son, Robert Fulton Barr, set up a division of the original company in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, which had a much larger population. In 1892 the Glasgow branch passed to Andrew Greig Barr (where the name A.G. Barr comes from), a brother of the branch's founder. In 1899, they soft launched

, eventually launching it in 1901. The Falkirk and Glasgow divisions merged in 1959, and the company was listed on the

in 1965. In 1972, A.G. Barr acquired the

Tizer Tizer is a red-coloured, citrus-flavoured soft drink bottled and sold in the UK. The name originally comes from the original name, "Pickup's Appetiser". It was launched in 1924 by Fred and Tom Pickup of Birtle, Bury when it was known as "Picku ...

brand. In 2001 the company acquired Findlays Mineral Water which is sourced in the

Lammermuir Hills The Lammermuirs are a range of hills in southern Scotland, forming a natural boundary between East Lothian and the Borders. The name ''Lammermuir'' comes from the Old English , meaning "moorland of the lambs". Geology The Lammermuir Hills a ...

. In 2002, Roger White joined A.G. Barr as managing director, and in 2004 became the first chief executive from outside the Barr family. The company acquired

Forfar Forfar (; , ) is the county town of Angus, Scotland, and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million-pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town had a population of 16,280. The town ...

-based Strathmore Mineral Water in May 2006. The Irn-Bru 32

variant was launched in 2006. In 2008, the company purchased the Taut sports drink range, and exotic fruit drink company

Rubicon The Rubicon (; ; ) is a shallow river in northeastern Italy, just south of Cesena and north of Rimini. It was known as ''Fiumicino'' until 1933, when it was identified with the ancient river Rubicon, crossed by Julius Caesar in 49 BC. The ri ...

. In November 2012, the company agreed to merge with

Britvic Britvic was a British producer of soft drinks based in Hemel Hempstead, England. It produced soft drinks under its own name, as well as several other brands. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Carlsberg Group an ...

, which produces drinks like J₂O,

Tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

and Robinsons, as well as holding the authority to produce

Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...

for the UK market, to create one of Europe's largest soft drinks companies. The merger was abandoned in July 2013. The company acquired a cocktail mixer business, Funkin, in February 2015. In December 2022, the company acquired

Boost Drinks Boost Drinks Limited is a British drinks company that sells primarily energy and sports drinks through convenience stores, independent retail chains and petrol forecourts. It was established in 2001 and is headquartered in Leeds. History ...

for £20 million from founders Simon and Alison Gray. The company also took full control of Moma Foods at that time. In October 2023, it was announced A.G. Barr had acquired the Rio Tropical Limited soft drinks brand from the independent brewer and pub company, Hall and Woodhouse Limited, for £12.3 million.

Legal disputes

On 14 July 1961, the

Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...

asked Lord Walker for an interim interdict about the type of bottle used by A.G. Barr's "''Kolabar''", "''Cydrap''" and "''Stilkrush''" in the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the highest national court of Scotland in relation to Civil law (common law), civil cases. The court was established in 1532 to take on the judicial functions of the royal council. Its jurisdiction overlapped with othe ...

. Coca-Cola's argument was that "real danger that the bottle used by .G. Barrfor containing Kolabar will be mistaken by the public for oca-Cola", while A.G. Barr's argument was "the position of Coca-Cola in the soft drinks industry in Scotland is insignificant in comparison with that of .G. Barr. Lord Walker refused the interim interdict, as a large part of their business could've been disturbed, additionally because Coca-Cola made no sales in the country at that point.

Operations

A.G. Barr produces a variety of soft drinks from production sites at

and

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

. Irn-Bru was launched in 1901.

Notes

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control 1875 establishments in Scotland British companies established in 1875 Companies based in North Lanarkshire Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Drink companies of Scotland Family-owned companies of Scotland Food and drink companies established in 1875 Soft drinks manufacturers Companies in the FTSE 250 Index